Shadowed past
by TheRomanticNerd
Summary: Kurt hid Mystique's letter better, and the Xmen are late - Kurt's kidnapped by the Brotherhood slash Magneto, causing both weakening and strengthening of the bonds of the X-men... Kurt Mystique family-centric. CURRENTLY REWRITING, THOUGH MARKED AS COMPLETE, THE EPILOGUE AND RESOLUTION TO THE STORY IS STILL MISSING.
1. The beginning

**WARNING: When I wrote this, my English wasn't nearly as good as I would have liked; furthermore, this story is one chapter short of being finished. Read only if you're okay with waiting who knows how much till I finally write the last chapter, and then rewrite and correct this.**

******With that said, if you're not opposed to some bad grammar and misspelling (and the story of an immature 16-year-old), please enjoy!**

_(Chapter proofread and additional author's note added on 17th of March, 2010)_

Hey, everyone! I've written a new fiction! I'm a VERY bad writer, because it takes me ages to write chapters. So I've decided to write very short ones, but regularly. But do not worry, this is the shortest chapter!

This fic was born while I was watching Shadowed past (for about the millionth time XD), and I stuck thinking about that the X-men came just in time... and what if they were late?

**Shadowed Past**

**Chapter 1: The beginning**

_If you want to know the truth, come to the new mall construction sight at sundown. Come alone._

Kurt had had heavy feelings and strange thoughts in his head since last night. This meeting seemed to be the only thing that could answer his questions.

He went to his bed and hid the letter under the pillow, then wandered to the window, looking outside. The sun was already cut half by one of the hills.

"Why not?" And with a puff of smoke he disappeared.


	2. Searching for the letter

We all know what happened in Shadowed Past, now do we? ;-) Let's skip everything till Scott and Jean starts looking for the letter, shall we?

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 2: Searching for the letter**

(by Kriszty)

"Pietro?" (That's what Scott said, wasn't it? Urgg, Jean...) "Here?" (Where else? Sorry, Jean's not my favourite person) "But how?" (No comment)

"Hey, you know how fast that dude moves. I guess he could get past the mansion security system with no problem."

Jean continued looking, even looked in his desk and took a look in his diary for that day. Nothing. Scott took a look in his wardrobe, still nothing. After about 10 minutes Jean roared like Logan did sometimes.

"This is going to take forever" she said angrily and levitated all the furniture in the air, than began moving everything around. There were clothes and fur flying all over the room, papers landing in Scott's arm, who looked through them quickly while Jean continued her search. Finally she reached the pillow. She gave Scott the paper she found underneath, who looked at it for a second than looked hysterically at the balcony. But it was dark already.

"Gotta move. Real fast. He's in great danger, and we might be already late." Jean looked at him horrorstruck, and then both mutants ran out of the messed-up room in top speed.


	3. Facing our fears

**Chapter 3: Facing our fears**

(by Kriszty)

Let's jump another bit. Kurt had the shock of his life, and was facing the Brotherhood at that moment.

§ § § § § § §

"I'll get him!" yelled Toad, and jumped after Kurt.

Kurt easily got away by teleporting, but his mind worked fast. He still couldn't believe it. Mystique... his mother? (That sentence doesn't belong to me, as we all know. Am very sad bout it :-( ) Impossible. Just a trick. A trap. They want him killed, or rather beaten up. Yes, that's the case.

He looked down at Mystique angrily. "What kind of game is this, Mystique?" But than he froze with shock. Her eyes... She was frightened. And not for herself... It almost looked like as if she cared.

He never thought of seeing her like that. _Caring. _For her _son._ He looked in her eyes... Just like his...

But he looked in those eyes for too long. Suddenly he heard a loud crash, and fell off. Than, in a piece of a second everything went dark.

§ § § § §

"WHAT in the name of hell are YOU doing HERE, you idiots, you morons, you bunch of fools!" Mystique couldn't control herself. She kicked Lance and Todd, so they fell unconscious; he threw Fred in the concerto (haha, I couldn't miss it) and caught Pietro.

"You read my letter and told everything to that bloody father of yours, haven't you?"

"Yes he did" Came a calm voice, and Magneto appeared. When Mystique saw him, she jumped at him screaming. "You already took him away once, how dare you-"

"Mystique, you must not tell him what he wants to know."

"Enough! I am NOT taking in any of you again!" With that she snapped Pietro, picked up Kurt and walked away. Magneto followed her, and soon they started flying, knowing the X-men would be there sooner or later, and their only chance to find Kurt was Logan's nose.

§ § § § §

The X-men quickly spread out at the construction side, where they found the Brotherhood boys, whose first thing to see was Cyclops, who was so angry that his first thing to do was kicking the unconscious Lance and brake a couple of his ribs. (Nice long sentence... My English teacher would be proud of me ïﾁŠ)

Even the X-men were afraid when he asked "WHERE IS NIGHTCRAWLER!"

"Look, pal..." started Todd, "We have no idea, be... AAAAAAAAA!" He burst into screams as saw Scott heading towards him.

The Brotherhood (at least who were conscious) decided to take a run for it. Todd rescued Fred from the concerto, who picked up Lance and Pietro, and started running away. Scott wanted to run after them and hit the shit out of them (sorry, it's Scott who's having so nasty thoughts), but the Professor's mental voice stopped him.

"Please all return to the mansion. You can not do anything at the moment." "NOOOOO!" Came Scott's reply, and he grabbed Toad. But before Scott could hit the boy, Rogue touched him and made him fall unconscious.

Then Jean levitated them back to the Institute.


	4. The Xmen learn the truth

Thank you very much, Bookwyrm365, for pointing out a mistake and suggesting an alternative expression! :) This chapter had been proofread (17th March, 2010)

**Chapter 4: The X-men learn the truth**

(by Kriszty)

All of the X-men were in the dining room, listening to what Logan had to say.

"It was a really hard job, the place was well chosen. A lot of workers, but apart from the Elf and those reeking Brotherhood, I could also sniff out Mystique and Magneto."

"Mystique? What was _she _doing there? And who's Magneto?" Scott asked, confusion mixing with uncharacteristic anger. He hadn't said a word to Rogue since their return, and still wanted to give the Brotherhood a knuckle sandwich.

The Professor and Rogue exchanged looks, and Xavier nodded his approval.

"Well... khmm... in my dream..." Rogue began uneasily, "When the Professor looked in my head last night; I could see everything much more clearly. And I saw who dropped Kurt in the river."

There was a short silence after this, and then Kitty asked furiously, "Well?"

Rogue took a deep breath, preparing both herself and her audience for the shocking news.

"Mystique"

A long silence followed her revelation; everybody, even Logan looked shocked.

"Oh my God..." said Ororo, followed by Evan's "You must be joking..." and Kitty's "Like, poor Kurt...". Jean said "I can't believe it..." and Scott's reaction was "It explains a lot..."

Logan roared, and punched the nearest wall in frustration. "I always knew there was something fishy about them... They smelled similar. But I never expected them to be related _so _close..."

Xavier waited until everyone fell silent, and turned to Logan.

"Our top priority now is to find him. What can you do, Wolverine?"

Suddenly the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Logan looked right in the Professor's eyes, and shook his head. "Sorry, Chuck. I've already tried to find him, but my chances are close to zero percent."


	5. Mystique and Magneto

**Chapter 5: Magneto and Mystique**

(by Kriszty)

"You have to know that the only reason I helped you is to make sure you don't tell him too much" Magneto was rather angry: he knew that if they left Kurt there, Mystique would have told everything to the boy in school, which is quite an easy job for her being her Principal. (Oooh, he was so wrong, wasn't he?)

"I don't care" was Mystique's answer. Since leaving the construction side, she hadn't looked anywhere but at Kurt. He was sleeping in her bed, in her arms... This was a feeling she had never felt before and was very happy.

"I will tell him everything and you won't be able to stop me."

"At that point, I'm afraid you are quite wrong, my dear Mystique... You see, if you tell him anything about me or the lab, I'm afraid I will be force to kill him"

Mystique's anger rose again, but she didn't want to wake her sleeping son, so she just said, "If you just touch him _again, _you will be the one who..."

"Mystique, you know that I keep my promises. If I will be forced to kill him, it will be _all you fault_"

Mystique still didn't look at Magneto, but she closed her eyes and her hand, which held Kurt's hand, shook angrily. A tear came out of her eye.

"Ok, I won't tell him anything about that." Another tear came out of her eye, so Magneto left the room.

Shortly after Magneto's departure Kurt started moving in his bed.


	6. The talk and the hug

Hello! Thanx for the reviews, I'm very happy to have all these readers who find my fic interesting!

Darkness1: At first I didn't plan to have so many chapters, but in the middle I separated the big mass into lot of little ones. Otherwise, I agree with you: there aren't enough Kurt stories, especially dealing with Kurt/Mystique. I love that kind of story! Can you tell me where can I download the X-men episodes? Please!

Kaliann: Here you go! Enjoy! :)

Tailfeather: Thanks; you are doing really good things with my ego. Enjoy!

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 6: The talk and the hug**

Everything was dizzy. Kurt tried to focus, but all he could see was a lot of blue and red stains. He blinked one, but he still couldn't see clear. He blinked another- a little better.

After a few blinks everything seemed to get clear... And he was looking again in those familiar eyes... His mother's eyes.

"Aaaah!!" he got scared and sat up, but Mystique pushed him back.

"Don't worry, you won't be hurt here." Her voice was soft and her face looked happy. Kurt tried to stay calmed and get some answers.

"What happened? Why am I here?" He asked with curious eyes.

"You're... I mean _we're _here so we won't be disturbed again. I'm sorry about the things that happened back there... I had nothing to do with it." She looked at him with an I'm-gonna-kill-them expression on her face.

Kurt wandered if she wanted him to say anything. Finally he nodded and said "Right"

After a couple of seconds Mystique hugged him.

This was the last thing Kurt was expecting, but when his surprised feeling faded away, he started to feel something warm inside. He had had a stepmother, who was the best mom a boy can have (especially a blue, demon-like fuzzball), but this was different.

After a couple of seconds Kurt hugged back. They held each other like that for minutes, like they didn't want to lose each other again. Finally, Mystique straightened up and started talking.

She told him what happened after he blacked out. Kurt had so many questions... Finally he asked, "So, who's this Magneto anyway?"

Mystique took a deep breath. "He's a mutant who can control any metal. He's as powerful as Xavier, maybe even more powerful. He built Cerebro together with Charles, so he won't be able to reach you here, and you can't reach him either."

"So... when can I go home? Will you come with me to the Institute?"

Mystique stood up, walked to the door, opened it and looked back with a sad expression on her face. "Not for a while. We have quite a lot to talk about. Besides, I want you to feel like home _here_. Now, go to sleep, you must be tired. As your principal, I will let you skip some days, and then we'll see how you feel"

And with that she closed the door after her. Before falling asleep on the bed, Kurt knew only one thing: she was not going to join the X-men.


	7. Mystique’s thoughts and feelings

**Chapter 7: Mystique's thoughts and feelings**

"I told you NOT to tell ANYTHING about ME or the lab!!!" Magneto shouted on the top on his voice.

"I only promised not to tell anything about the lab and your relation with it." Mystique answered coolly, with which she made the man standing in front of him madder. "Besides, if you want him with the Brotherhood, he should be introduced to you sooner or later."

Magneto calmed down a bit. She's right, he realized.

"You'd better go back to him soon. He'll be awake in no time. And don't forget: I want to see him with the Brotherhood when we go back to Bayville. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

§ § § § §

As Mystique walked back to Kurt's room, she kept thinking about all the thing that were going around her and her son, Magneto, the Brotherhood, the X-men...

"Charles is going to look for him. He will want him back. His precious X-men are weaker without him. All those idiots think I am going to give him back, to let us being separated from each other again. Well they are going to learn who is Mystique..."

"...He told me he helped because he didn't want him to know anything. It sounds right, but knowing Magneto I fear there's something else in his mind. I just wish I knew... Whatever he plans to do, I am NOT going to allow him to hurt my son again. If he does anything that may be uncomfortable for my child, he will pay. I will..."

"...They'd better get used to it, because I am not going to do anything without him, so he will join. I'm sure they'll become close friends... Well not close, but they will have to get used to each other. Like they did with Rogue..."

"...maybe he was lying. I doubt he found the antidote. He was the one who told me there's nothing we can do after his 17th week. But if he really can do something, I swear I'll never say anything bad on him..."

She reached Kurt's room. She knocked on the door, and when got no answer, she stepped in the room.

Kurt was sleeping deeply. He lay on his back, wearing only underpants and a T-shirt (Mystique stole it from Pietro). His blanket was on the floor as though he had been trashing around. His tail moved from here to there- he must have been dreaming something. He was murmuring softly, but she didn't understand a word of it - it was too quiet.

As she walked to the bed, she realized something she has never noticed before: that he was _beautiful._

§ § § § § § §

Well, did you like it? I've been writing this story in a notice-book for 2 months, because there was no computer around. And guess what happened: I've lost 2 pages somewhere! I'm very sad, because it was a very good page. :( I have to re-write everything. Well... that's for 2 month's work...

Thanks again for all those reviews! They make me VERY happy. :)


	8. Rogue's feelings

Well, this is quite a short chapter, but I don't want to disappoint you, so I've updated the next one as well!

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 8: Rogue's feelings**

(By Kriszty)

Rogue was sitting on a final, but as Kurt did the day before, he couldn't concentrate, either.

"Oh, Kurt, where are you? Are you even alive? What are they doing to you? I hope they aren't planning to continue those experiments and create a... a... a monster or something of you..."

"Oh, Kurt, why Mystique? She lied to us, she attacked us, she's an awful person. But she wouldn't harm you. I remember that in my dreams she loved you, and when that Magneto or whoever did those things to you, I remember that she cared... I remember her feelings"

"She was frightened, because she thought YOU wouldn't survive, she was angry, because what that guy did to YOU, she loved you, and when she dropped you... She wanted to DIE. Her first thought was to jump after you, and if you die, die with you..."

Then the bell went on. She jumped up, ran to the teacher's desk, gave the test to him and ran away. Because she knew that the Professor was going to talk to Darkholme at this break.


	9. Xavier tells an awful but true story

Thank you for the reviews! You make this Hungarian girl verry happy here:))) I love all of you who write down your opinion! Please do it all of you who read this! And if I make a mistake, correct it, so I learn! Thanks! (P.S: I am not going to make the chapters longer! Try and understand; writing anything in a different language is pretty hard!)

Proponent of EVO: Thank you! Keep on the reviewing:) Enjoy!

KaliAnn: Here's the newest! Hottes! Just for you! Enjoy!

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 9: Xavier tells an awful but true story**

(by Kriszty)

Xavier wheeled in the office. A woman was standing with her back to him, looking out the window. She didn't turn around, but her arms, that were holding a book, were shaking a bit.

"Hello, Mystique"

"What do you want?"

"You know exactly what I want. You'd better release him."

There was a long silence and Mystique turned around. She looked at Xavier for a long second, than morphed into Kurt's form.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She said in Kurt's voice (and cute accent :)) and tried to smile an evil smile, but she just managed a pathetic grin. She was far too tense.

Xavier stayed cool, and looked at Mystique with a questioning expression.

"What do you want, Mystique? What's your goal?"

"Pardon?" Mystique looked surprised. She morphed back to her usual form, and looked at the bald man with a questioning expression. Then she laughed, and said to Xavier with a smirk "Dear, dear Charles. If you really mean that question, Magneto has no reason to think you're an enemy that deserves to be thought about. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot to do, and-"

"Mystique, he'll never love you"

She looked as though he threw something at her. She just stood her, with no word to answer. Her face was showing surprise, rising anger… And maybe fear… Fear from him being correct… But being told, loud and clear, to her face, made her furious. She was ready to jump on the Professor. "How dare you-"

"No, Mystique, this time you listen to me. Had you ever seen him after his third birthday?"

Her confused face showed that she hadn't.

"You have to know what his life was. You weren't there when I first met him. And I haven't seen worse in my whole life, thought I survived a lot of battles."

"When I arrived to the small German village, I saw a huge mob in the middle of the village. They were shouting German words, but I couldn't understand anything. I decided to wait a bit, but then do you know what I saw?"

His face showed real anger, and Mystique took a step back. She was definitely not used to Xavier showing _that_ kind of emotion. Surprised, she sat down on her chair.

"I saw fire. It was in the middle of the crowd. I just looked at it for a couple of seconds and kept thinking about 'What's happening there?' And then came a scream. It was louder than the mob's shouting, and it was different, too. It was _full of fear and pain._ Than came another one and another one."

Xavier stopped for a second and looked at Mystique. But she had already turned around in her chair to hide her tears of pain.

"I wheeled out of the jet, and to the mob. When I got closer, I saw what was happening. Someone was burned at the stake. And guess what? _It was Kurt._ There was no friend to save him. There was no one for him. He was _dying_"

Xavier took a deep breath so he would calm down, and didn't continue for a minute or two. Mystique was speechless. Xavier was so angry he didn't even try and read her emotions, he just thought that she had no heart. But the shapeshifter was silent because if she had said a word, he would have discovered that she was sobbing quietly. She did have a heart, which just broke of the thought what she had put her only son through.

"I know you won't be able to control him. He is strong enough. He will never join the Brotherhood. He _knows _that you never loved him and you never will." And with that he wheeled out of the room.

"YOU COME BACK HERE! YOU HAVE _NO _IDEA!" Mystique sceamed, and finally turned around. Xavier looked back to see her standing next to her lying chair, her eyes red and face watery. He simply turned around, shut the door behind himself and left without a word.

"You have no idea..." Mystique whispered to herself, and fell on the floor crying really hard.


	10. Pietro? Nice? Unbelievable, but true!

**Chapter 10: Pietro? Nice? Unbelievable, but true!**

(by Kriszty)

Kurt woke up and looked at the clock that stood next to his bed. He had slept almost 12 hours since his talk with his mother.

He just lay in his bed, and couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Ok, maybe she only wants to talk. Yes, a talk would be very good. I have to know certain things about my father, my... the way I look, why didn't she look for me after the accident... the accident... well, a lot of things."

"So... we'll have a talk, and then? She will not let me go. What will she do to me? I'm not going to join the Brotherhood losers, that's for sure."

Like a magic word, Pietro zapped in the room. Kurt jumped up, but Quicksilver didn't put up a fight.

"Here's your lunch, fuzzb... I mean, Kurt." He put the plate down on the desk and zapped out of the room.

Kurt just realized how hungry he was; he sat down to eat. While eating, he realized he had been brought his favorite burger.

"Oh, man, how _do_ they know what's my favorite? Has she been watching me or somethin'?" He stood up, went to the bookshelf and looked at the books on it. They all were his favorites and the ones he wanted to read for ages.

"Well, this means she has been watching me. So... she does care about me. She knows all my wishes, my dreams. Wow... I've looked everywhere for this one..." he took a book from the shelf, "but in Germany. I forgot about it _years before_ coming to America. This is _marvelous._ She had known me almost since my birth. But I never knew anything about her..."

He sighed, put the book back on the self, sat down next to his burger but did not eat it. There was one thought in his mind, not leaving him alone, not letting him do or think about anything else.

"I want to get to know her"


	11. The Institude without the fuzzy elf

Sorry for this taking so long, but I have a lot of homework, and this week we have written at least 6 tests. And I will have a very hard Monday... Oh, my...

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 11: The Institute without the fuzzy elf**

(by Kriszty)

"He's been gone for ten whole days now and I don't CARE what the Professor says!"

Scott and Jean were having a roar, which was not rare these days. Scott had the idea that they should get out information from the Brotherhood's head, and he didn't care if he had to crush their heads to get something out of there.

All of them missed the fuzzy elf, Scott did the most. Logan told him and Jean what he found out at that castle, and Kurt being one of Scott's best friends, he cared for him. Scott never told anyone, but he felt towards Kurt like towards a brother. And he already lost one brother; he didn't want to loose another one.

"Scott, be reasonable!" (have been watching _My fair lady _recently)

"You can't understand this" Scott thought angrily.

"Oh yes I can! The Professor said we couldn't do anything!"

"Well, I am not going to just sit around here and wait for Kurt being brought back dead or as a member of the Brotherhood! I am going to do something!"

"Yeah, like what? Beat the shit out of the Brotherhood?"

"**YES!!!!!**" Scott shouted from the top of his voice and ran away.

"Oooops... I just gave him an idea... Hey! It's a good one!" (See? She has heart, even if I can't tell it about her brain...)

§ § § § §

Cyclops, Jean, Shadowcat, Spike, Rogue and Wolverine were on their way to get some answers but the Professor stopped them. They met at the Brotherhood's door.

"I've already told you can do nothing!" He wasn't angry, more like sad. And strict.

"But Professor..."

"No, Scott. I know you're angry but they don't know anything about Kurt, and it's not their fault. This is between Kurt and Mystique, and it's their choice. Besides, I've already went threw their minds and they know nothing"

The X-men could do nothing but agree and go home.

Scott hadn't mentioned the matter no more, but he was stricter than ever on the Danger-room sessions and he could be caught shouting with someone much more often than before.


	12. The call and the birth of a new friendsh...

**Chapter 12: The ring and the birth of a new friendship**

(by Kriszty)

Another two days went by since the X-men's departure to the Brotherhood. The youngsters were coming home from school when Xavier got a call. The pushed a button on Cerebro and started talking in the microphone.

"Hello, Mystique. I was expecting to hear from you, but to tell the truth I was expecting earlier."

"Listen, Xavier. I've sent you some coordinates in e-mail, where you can find him. Fly there immediately or he'll be dead, and..." but the line cut off.

Xavier sat there shocked for a couple of seconds. He was expecting something like that, but he never thought of anything so serious. "Oh my, Eric, why do you keep torturing him? What have you done again?"

He immediately contacted Logan and told him to prepare the jet for a rescue. He as well read the mail and told the coordinates to him. Than he contacted Scott and told him to bring everyone home in 5 minutes, they were going on a rescue mission. In the end he turned around and wheeled out of the room.

§ § § § §

They were already in the air and all of them knew they were going for Kurt. They sat in total silence, thinking.

Rogue couldn't stop her nightmare flashing down and down again in her head. She closed her eyes and tried to think of Kurt... That they would find him, safe and _alive..._ But then she saw him lying on the desk, with wires in his body... Mystique picking him up, shouting... Running away from wolves... A pair of tears came out of her eyes. "He's all right" she tried convincing herself, but then saw the worse... Kurt falling down in the river...

"NO, STOP IT!" She screamed, and another pair of tears appeared in her eyes. She knew everyone was staring at her, but she just kept her eyes closed and sobbed without saying anything.

After a second she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Jean's face. It was full of understanding.

"I can't take it any more!" Rogue said and started crying in the other girl's shoulder.

"There, there... Let's go find a more quiet place..." Jean said and led Rogue out to the toilet.

"My nightmare... again and again..." Rogue sobbed, but Jean put her finger on Rogue's blue lips.

"I know, honey, I know... Every time you have it, I have it as well. It's a so strong emotion that I can't get it out of my mind, either. I know what you're going through"

Rogue looked at her, and wiped out the tears from her eyes, just when a pair of them appeared in Jean's eyes as well.

"X-men, get ready. We'll arrive in 5 minutes."

"Ok, honey, let's calm down now and go back to the others" Rogue said. She wiped out the tears from Jean's eyes as well, they looked at each other, smiled, and went out of there hand in hand.


	13. Kurt's gone

Sorry that this took so long, this time it's not laziness, I swear, I just had _so _much homework during the last weeks... I should be doing my arts homework right now, but I thought you would like to read some more. Enjoy and review! Thanx!

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 13: Kurt's gone**

(by Kriszty)

When they got out of the jet, they found themselves in a desert, with nothing around but some grass and a small bush. The X-men were pretty surprised; they were expecting a house or something of a kind.

"Professor, what's goin' on here?" Rogue asked, a little bit afraid. She was afraid this meant they weren't going to bring Kurt home after all. And she didn't want that. Her nightmares became more and more awful after each night, and she had the feeling that they needed to find Kurt or Mystique soon. Otherwise she wouldn't survive the sleepless nights and the vision-full days.

"They are expecting us, be _very_ careful." Logan growled. Xavier, after a minute of silence, rolled to the bush, stared at it for a second, and wheeled away. "It's just too obvious..." he murmured, and fell into silence again. After a second or two he looked up.

"I'm pretty sure they're underground. What I can't tell is how to get down there."

"Allow me" said Shadowcat and phased through the soil. In about 30 second she appeared, but she was not phasing. She came through a door.

"I see what you meant under 'too obvious'," she said to the Professor. ", if you have touched that bush, we all would be dead by now. It's a bomb that could send whole Bayville into Hell."

They went down the stairs, which took a long time. When they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a long corridor full of doors. A couple of robots and canons (and stuff from the Danger-room) were waiting for them there, but Wolverine and Shadowcat took care of them easily. Meantime the others were looking in each room, searching for their fuzzy friend, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Professor, can't you, like, you know, locate him?" (Guess who said this :-))

"I am trying, Kitty, but I can't find him until... he teleports! Yes, I've got him! After me, everyone, and fast!"

They ran to the end of the corridor, turned right, left, and then three times right and twice left. At the end of that corridor opened a door, which turned out to be leading to the surface.

That sight turned them into stone for a second. They saw a helicopter, running by itself, levitating about 3 meters (10 feet) high. In front of the helicopter lay Mystique. She was covered in blood and there was a huge cut on her arm and on her left cheek.

Wolverine and Cyclops were the first to move: while Cyclops tried to shoot down the helicopter, Wolverine ran towards it and tried to grab one of its wings. He was thrown back on the earth by a magnetic pulse, however, Cyclops managed to shoot the helicopter. For all of their great surprise and horror, the helicopter started rotating, then it started falling, and it hit the ground with a huge explosion.

§ § § § § § §

Woow… I am sure one meanie when it comes to cliffhangers… Well, review, and I'll update sooner! (if my arts teacher doesn't kill me till then with all these stupid homeworks… :-SS)


	14. Kurt's found

This chapter contains some swears, so I just want to say that they're the ones who think/say so nasty things, I'm just writing them down... :-)

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 14: Kurt's found**

(by Kriszty)

They just stood there, frozen, unable to do anything.

"Don't go..." Scott thought desperately "You're one of my best friends, my lost brother... Don't leave me! Don't leave us! Please, please... I promise, we'll find the answers to all of your quest..." He suddenly remembered the woman lying on the soil.

"You stupid fucked up son of a bitch!" He heard his voice surprised, and suddenly realized he already stood up and was walking towards the half-dead Mystique.

Before he could reach her, a pair of strong arms caught him.

"Calm down, bob. What you are trying to do is a _big_ mistake"

"_Big mistake? BIG MISTAKE? _The only mistake here is her being born! Let go, Logan, I just give her what she deserves!"

"Call down, Scott, and listen to the big man."

"Kitty," turned Xavier towards the girl in the small silence, "do you remember what you told me back there?"

Kitty looked at him miserably "Professor, what does this matter now?"

"Please, kitty, answer me" Xavier said, almost smiling. They all looked at him like he had gone mad, all except for Logan, who was smirking as well.

"Uhh, fine, you mean about locating him?"

"No, about the bush and it being too _obvious_." He looked at the girl without an expression on his face who stared back at him as thought he was insane. How come he's not sad?

"Why are you telling..." Kitty started, but Rogue, who already woke up, interrupted, "Wait... You don't mean..."

"_There is still hope!_ Nightcrawler teleported only about a minute before our arrival here. He had to be insane to port _inside_ the helicopter knowing we were coming! It was fake, there wasn't anyone on there!"

"While your battle," he continued, "I tried to follow his movement. He has to be up here, but I don't know where..."

"I guess I do! Magneto expects us to look all over the place, but he has a hunch that our first move would we to kill Mystique in our anger. At least mine would be, and Scott's as well. But he made a big mistake: he forgot this" and he pointed towards his nose. Not everyone seemed to understand what he said, so he went to the blue woman and took off her watch. Kitty screamed with surprise.

A holographic figure vanished, and they found themselves staring at a blue figure, but not the woman they expected: it was the unconscious Kurt.

He wasn't as bad as holo-Mystique, but he was still in an awful condition. There was blood all over him, his fur was sweaty and uncombed, and he had two black eyes.

"Oh my god, Kurt..." All of his friends were around him, while Jean levitated him and they examined if he needed anything else.

In the meantime, Xavier and Logan were talking about Mystique.

"We are going to take her as well, so find her and bring her back on the plane, _unharmed_. We're leaving only _after_ finding her."

"Right, on it" was Wolverine's reply and he went off.

Everyone except him went back to the jet, and tried to nurse Kurt back to consciousness, but without much luck.

"He's really bad, his fever might be lowered but it seems we'll need to operate him: he has some major damages in his lungs and kidneys."

"Professor, where's Mr. Logan?" asked Kitty after 5 minutes, noticing the missing man.

"Here" came the man's voice from the door. He was holding a bloody blue woman.

"What's she doin' here?" Scott shouted and his face begun to turn red again, but Xavier calmed him down.

"We are going to take her with us. She may be the enemy, but we… No, Kurt needs some answers, and I'd bet she'll stay on our side."

Scott looked at him with an I-would-like-to-see-that expression, but then Rogue walked to him and grabbed his hand. Scott looked at her surprised, but all Rogue said was

"I _know_ she's goin' to stay with us. Because of Kurt" and she left to help the others around Kurt, who stopped what they were doing when Logan appeared, but when Rogue went back to them, everyone continued to do what they have been doing.

Scott calmed down, and decided to wait and see what was going to happen. He trusted the Professor, and had the feeling he exactly knew what he was doing.

So, after stabilizing Kurt, they took off and headed to the mansion

§ § § § § § §

That's it for now! Please, write down how you want the story to continue! Will Kurt die? Will he suffer any damage if he survives? Will Mystique stay alive? Will she leave Kurt? And the most important: WHAT HAPPENED? I've got my solution for the future, but I may change it I find your idea better!

Bye! Wish me luck: gonna write 3 very important tests on Thursday and Friday...


	15. Talk to him! He might hear

Wow... I've got one whole hour to write this chapter, and I've never thought I can be able to write this much in _english._ So I'm honoured to be the one who can tell you this: this chapter is longer than the ones I've written so far. Hurray!

I hope I could make you happy (I really hope I could, at least a little bit), and if you are satisfied with this chapter, or any other one, please review! You make my work so much easier and make my day so sunnier! (ok, I'm being childish now...)

Enjoy! And don't forget to review!

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 15: Talk to him! He might hear you...**

(by Kriszty)

Almost five weeks passed since Kurt's rescue, and he was still in the med ward. Everyone missed their elf's goofing around, but at least this time he was in the Institute, and _alive_. Everyone acted much more relaxed, even Scott took back of the strictness.

While Kurt was unconscious, the chip in Wolverine's brain had been activated. He went to the mountain with Kitty, who had been wounded by Sabertooth. This was when Wolverine could fight the chip and think clearly. He and attacked Sabertooth, than went to destroy the lab. Kitty did her part in the destruction, but Wolverine had to rescue her out of there, so he wasn't in the mountain when it blew up. He took Kitty home, who recovered in a week, and the chip has been removed from Logan's brain.

§ § § § §

Kurt has been visited by everyone day by day; there was always someone next to his bed. Most of the time it was Scott or Rogue, but especially at nights Logan sat around as well. Since his trip to the mountains, he knew exactly what was it like to be experimented on, and he felt that he and Kurt had a lot in common.

Kurt's night table was full of sweets and get-well cards; they knew him too much and didn't want to be hungry when waking up.

On the bed next to Kurt lay another mutant: Mystique. She was in much worse condition than Kurt, but she was healing faster. She had been in coma as well for three weeks, but then she woke up.

There was someone next to Kurt's bed as usual: Rogue. She was sitting with her back to the woman, and only noticed her being awake when Mystique moaned softly, trying to say "Kurrrt......."

Rogue jumped up alarmed, but when realized it was Mystique, she sat down on the chair, this time with her back to Kurt.

"How... how...?" This was all Mystique could say, but she was heavily drugged, and got very tired of speaking. She almost immediately fell back into unconsciousness, but however, she managed to catch Rogue's words:

"He's alive, but not fine"

§ § § § §

It took two days for Mystique to wake up again.

Three people were next to Kurt's bed this time: Logan, Kitty and Hank.

Mystique looked at him. Wires were all over him, attached to drip bags and machines that made beeping noises. She could hardly find a blue spot on his arms. A breathing mask lay across his still, blue face, which looked so calm... A little bit too calm.

Mystique wanted to get up, to go to her son's bed, hug him and hold him till he woke up. She felt tired, yet her mothernal feelings didn't seem to calm down. Her son maybe was dying, he might need her, and she wanted to be there for him. She tried to sit up, but noticed that it hurt. There were a few wires in his arms as well and there was a beeping machine next to her giving out steady beep-beep-beep sounds showing her heart worked just fine.

But in the next moment the machine stopped beeping: it only gave out one, crying beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......

The three people next to Kurt turned around, Hank ready to help, but they saw with relief and surprise that Mystique wasn't dead, on the contrary: she was sitting up and pulling the wires out of her arms and chest.

"Mystique, stop, you need to rest..." Hank started

"How is he?" She interrupted, pulling out the last wire and standing up.

"I'm telling the Professor" said Kitty and ran away.

"Grr, Mystique, lie back..."

"Try and stop me" Mystique interrupted Logan this time, who didn't like it, but let her go past him, and sit on the chair he was sitting a moment ago.

"I won't ask again: how is he??"

Hank looked at Kurt, as though waiting for him to wake up and comfort his mother. As he didn't he sighed, and turned towards the blue woman with a strict face.

"For once: you're welcome. If it wasn't for us you've died" He sighed again and continued, "he's not too well. He has been in coma for more that three weeks. I'll be honest: we can't tell when he wakes up... If he does ever."

Mystique sat silent, looking at her son's face. She wanted to be with him, and never leave him again... She looked at the men standing over her.

"Leave." Logan growled, but she wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible, so she added: "_please_"

The two men were surprised by this sudden politeness and left the room. Outside they met Xavier, but told him to wait a couple of minutes.

"What she needs now is a little time together"

"Is Kurt able to speak?" Xavier asked as turned around outside the door.

Hank looked a little surprised by this question. "Able to speak? He wasn't even awake when we came out."

"Well, he is now"

They all stood there for a couple of seconds before Logan repeated:

"I correct myself: they _both_ need a little time together now."

§ § § § §

Mystique was looking at her son. He was so vulnerable at that moment... Almost as a little baby. She would have felt pity if she saw anyone else lying like that, so vulnerable (sorry, dunno synonym), but this time she felt something completely different, and this feeling had nothing to do with antipathy. She carefully took his hand and started caressing it. It was such a good feeling... as caressing a little kitten.

She had already heard about that sometimes people who are unconscious could hear something from the world outside. She had always thought that it was a bloody stupid thing to do; yet there was some kind of _power_ forcing her to speak. She didn't realize this power for first, which she could describe as a feeling, but after the first couple of words she recognized it: it was called maternal love.

"Listen, Kurt. I know you probably can't hear me, but I just have to tell you this. Maybe I can make up for everything, every moment we've missed. I can only promise you that I'll try, and I do that only if you want it as well. I never wanted this to happen, I swear. It just came out like this. I don't expect you to ever speak to me after all that happened, so if you ever tell me you don't want to see me again, I will get out of your life forever. I promise you this. I only want you to hear me out once, and after that I will leave. I know you have a kind heart, which you inherited from your father, and I'm glad you did. Just hear me out, please..." she started sobbing a little bit, and tears appeared in her eyes.

"Just hear me out..." she stopped talking and started crying. But then she felt movement. She looked down at her hand, which was still petting Kurt's, and saw that now _he_ was caressing her hand. His eyes were half open... His beautiful, glowing yellow eyes... They were looking at her ones.

"Don... Don't leave..." he managed to say, and smiled. And with that smile on his face, he went back to sleep.

Mystique started sobbing again, and bent over to his face. She kissed his fuzzy cheek. This was something she always wanted to do. She looked at him again, his beautiful face, sleeping... And whispered in his ear: "Never. Never will I leave you again, my son. This I swear."


	16. Something's very wrong

Oh, wow! Thank you for the reviews! I'm also sorry for not writing for such a long time but I couldn't get to a computer. But yesterday I began to write this, and today I saw how much reviews I have... I don't know what to say! So, instead, here's the next chapter! And some comments to the latest reviews:

Elfofdeath: I'm sorry but my English is a little limitive ( ;) ) and I understood most of what you wrote but not all. Could you repeat it written for a Hungarian not-very-good-in-English girl? Thanks!

Cheerleaderchick: Thank you! I'm sorry; it's all my poor vocabulary's fault. I'm very bad in writing-down-a-second-in-5-pages. I've tried to improve a little bit, but without much luck. Anyway

Fudje: Thank you, I think I'm totally blushing now... I think all the glory goes to my poor vocabulary. :-)

Kaliann: Your review made me think, and I think it's a good idea to put in Rogue as she learns the truth. I think I'll write about it in one of the next chapters. Keep reviewing and giving me ideas! Thanks! But don't forget: this is totally about sweetie Kurt!

Slade01: Thank you! Here's the newest and hottest for you!

Proponent of EVO: Thank you! As you see, I'm improving slowly, but constantly, and the chapters are longer and longer... I just need practice. So don't worry, it'll be better (I hope)!

Thank you for everyone who reviewed so far!

Keep your shirts on!

P.S.: But don't forget: if Noone reviews, I will turn to my studies again! So review. Thanx!

P.S. 2: I've just realized I made a little mistake during the writing: let's suppose that Hank McCoy, aka Beast is already with the X-men, shall we? Thanks! I knew you'd understand :-)

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 16: Something's very wrong **

(by Kriszty)

Another two days passed, and since Kurt's last awake the Professor was constantly reading his mind, just to know immediately if he wakes up.

There was another person constantly next to him: Mystique stood up only twice from the chair a day, each time to the bathroom. Rogue, Kitty and Jean took food for her three times a day. She never said anything to them, and when they came to take the empty dishes away, they always found almost completely uneaten food. Xavier tried to convince her to eat but she didn't even give sign of being awake.

On the third morning, just about breakfast-time Xavier wheeled in the room, with a very dark expression on his face.

"Something's very wrong."

There were two people by Kurt's bed: Scott, who came for a visit, and Mystique. Mystique jumped up at Xavier's words, asking: "What do you mean? What's with Kurt?" Before Xavier could answer, something very loud started to give out horrible sounds. It was one of the machines Kurt was attached to; it showed that his brainwaves were acting as though he was sleeping; yet his heart was beating too fast. At the same time Kurt started moving: he was thrashing around and screaming.

Xavier acted as quickly as he could; he pulled out Kurt's wires so he didn't harm himself, and as quickly as possible contacted Hank, who was there in a second.

"I was just on my way here, what's..." And then saw Kurt. Without another word he rushed to his desk and picked up something. He ran back to Kurt and tried to give him an injection so he relaxed. When he tried first, Kurt pushed away his arm unconsciously, and started whispering, but noone understood anything because of his mask. Xavier took it off quickly, so they could understand him.

"Leave me alone... I'm normal... It's me... Stop! It hurts... Help me! It burns... It wasn't me... Wait... I'm sorry... Help me... It's not my fault... Don't leave... Mother..." But as he talked more, he trashed around harder and harder, and shouted louder and louder. In the end he screamed so loudly that probably the whole institute heard him.

"I'm normal... Help me... Stop it! Get away from me, Summers! Don't... HELP ME! SOMEBODY... ANYBODY... HELP ME! PLEASE! Please... please... please... pleasss" The last few words were muttered again, and as he took a little rest, he was about to start yelling again when Hank quickly and precisely gave him his injection. Kurt immediately calmed down.

The four mutants were standing in shock, than the X-men turned to Mystique.

"Whoa... What was that about?" Scott asked, with some anger in his voice.

Mystique stood there as thought she was about to faint right there. After a second she took a deep breath, sat down on her chair and muttered

"I... I... I have no idea"

§ § § § §

He was dreaming. In his dream mutants didn't exist, in the way that everyone had special powers. He was playing on a playground, in his true form, and he couldn't have been older than five. Noone was afraid of him. He had friends to play with, and he almost always won in the games thanks to teleportation. But suddenly something happened.

Kurt had an awful thought: "But... I could only teleport after my 15th birthday..." And then the nightmare began.

There were people around him, and they were yelling something what Kurt couldn't understand. He just stood there, frozen, and kept asking them "What? What happened?" Than he saw someone familiar: it was his foster-mother. "What's going on?" he started, and tried to go walk to her, but realized he couldn't. He was tied to something. His foster-mother was yelling with the other people again, and she threw something at Kurt. Than he saw something that made his eyes widen: the familiar red-orange-yellow light, which was in every one of his nightmares, which was so hot and which _hurt_ so much...

Than he saw someone in the mob that was also familiar: Magneto, and next to him... Mystique. Neither of them was laughing, nor shouting. They just pushed the people away, and when reached Kurt, Magneto turned around and kept the people away while his mother got him down from there. She cut the wires, and Kurt fell on her. She caught him smiling, pulled him up and they went somewhere safe...

Then, in the other part of the nightmare, Kurt was standing in the middle of the school, with his image inducer on. There were a few people around him, but nobody cared, except for two tall kids and three shorter; the X-men. They knew what was his real form, and they hated him for his appearance.

"Get it off, freakshow! Give it to me, I just want to take a look at it." Scott Summers smiled.

"Leave me alone, I never did anything wrong to you!" Kurt shouted back, holding his left wrist in his arm so they couldn't get his watch off.

"Oh, you are very wrong, fuzz. You did something wrong" Kitty told him laughing.

"Yeah, like what?" Kurt asked angrily.

"_You were born..._" Kitty said, and all of them approached him laughing. Kurt tried to get out of their way, but he was trapped. Suddenly, he felt something in his stomach; it was Scott's fist.

"Stop it! Get away from me, Summers!" Kurt yelled, and backed away. But then he was kicked on his back, that was when he let his left wrist go, and Scott immediately reached out and grabbed it.

"STOP! NO!" he screamed as his image started to fade away, but then he heard a very familiar voice and relaxed.

"What's going on here??" His mother came with an expression on her face that showed that she was going to kill.

"Summers, Grey, Pryde, Daniels and... uhm, _Rogue_, to my office, now! Wagner, you wait outside."

"But he started it..." Kitty tried.

"Don't lie to me, you pathetic hooligan! I saw almost the whole thing! Now, after me"

As they were going away, Scott looked back and hissed with a self-satisfied smile: "The little blue freak has to be saved by mummy principal..."

"What was that, Summers?"

"Nothing, _Principal."_

That dream faded away as well, and then there were pictures, images flashing in front of his eyes, and he fell into deep, dreamless sleep.

§ § § § §

"Professor... What happened?" Scott was concerned. His friend was having serious nightmares, which couldn't have been be overlooked.

"Scott, I'm very much afraid he's been brainwashed."

"Whaa?"

"While he was having his nightmare, I went into his mind. His dream wasn't just a dream... the images were memories. But they couldn't have been someone other's. I know they were fake, because... Some people were in it I know."

"Like me, I suppose." Scott said with a sigh. Xavier looked at him impressed.

"He was talking during his nightmare and he was saying something about me letting him go." Scott said even sadder.

"In that case... We'll have to talk to Mystique again"

§ § § § § § §

Hey! Thanks again for the reviews! I am going to start Chapter 17 (in which Kurt wakes up and proves Xavier's theory... but how? And will anyone die?) right away.

Oh, I've got a stupid question to ask: What does cliffhangary mean? My poor vocabulary, you know...


	17. Mystique's decision

Well, this is not as long as I wanted it to be, but it took the same time to write as the previous chapter, because I had to use the dictionary a lot of times. I was just joking with that "will anyone die?" stuff; it's not really my style.

Well, here goes.

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 17: Mystique's decision**

(by Kriszty)

Mystique was watching Kurt sleeping. She didn't want to tell. If she did, they would have cured him and he would hate her for what she did.

Of course she knew that she had to tell. If she refused to do so, Xavier would have found out anyway. And Kurt would probably go insane.

But she needed time to think over things. She needed time to decide what to do, what to say.

But she lacked time.

Scott, Logan and Xavier came in the door. They stood around the unconscious boy, but were all looking at Mystique every now and then.

"Mystique, please, tell us what you know." Xavier began the conversation with the point.

"No. I need time"

"I understand that,_ Raven_, but _he_ hasn't got time"

She sighed and said "No"

"Have it your way" Logan growled and threw himself on Mystique. She wasn't ready, but her reflexes worked excellently, she jumped away and Wolverine fell on a desk. He quickly turned around and jumped on Mystique again, but she caught and threw him at the wall on the other side of the room.

But what she didn't notice was Scott, who got behind her and grabbed her arms. She screamed up in surprise, and tried to get away. She freed one arm, but Wolverine was there and caught it. She hadn't slept for a long time and she was weak and tired. She fell on the floor defeated.

"Listen Mystique..." Xavier begun but was cut off by a very loud howl, which actually sounded like an animal's growl. They all turned towards Kurt's bed, on which was Kurt standing.

He was like mad. His fur was standing up (like cats', but I don't think this is the right expression. Please help me out here), his face was deformed because of anger. He clenched his three-digit fists; his eyes were burning with anger.

"Uhh-ohh" Logan growled

"Listen Kurt, this is not what it looks like..." Scott began to explain, but he realized there was nothing he could say to Kurt.

"Yeah, what does it look like? This is IT, Summers, you're dead meat." With another blood-curdling howl he threw himself at Scott.

Scott couldn't defend himself. He just stood there, full with consternation, till Kurt's fist reached him. He punched Scott in the face and broke his nose. Scott fell on the floor, his nose bleeding like mad. Kurt kicked him in his side, Scott screamed up in pain. He was sure his kidney was damaged badly.

Logan threw himself on Kurt, but he teleported out of the medical ward, and was back in a second without the man. He continued kicking the crying Scott, and was shouting all along:

"You _dick_ (wow... Kurtie is really angry), how big are you now? Seems like you are only a big-guy when your precious friends are around! How do you like this, you big leader, you..." Then he broke off, and he did so because of a famine scream: his mother.

"Kurt, please, STOP!"

He looked at Mystique, and suddenly felt dizzy, the whole med ward was circling round. He looked at Xavier, who was concentrating hard on his mental blast.

Kurt fell on the fall, looked at Xavier, than at Mystique. Then he looked at the floor underneath him.

"Why are you keep doing this to me?" He muttered, and the two adults stood (or sat) there confused: to whom was he talking to? "I've never done anything to you, and neither did..." But he fainted.

Mystique and Xavier were looking at each other; Xavier was angry, Mystique was sad. She sighed. Xavier threw a last angry glimpse at the blue woman and wheeled to Scott.

Hank rushed in the room, and they together put the moaning Scott on one of the beds. Mystique went to Kurt; she picked him up and took him to his bed. She put him down, and kissed his cheek.

"I'm very sorry," she whispered in his ear. "I'm going to sort this out, and when you wake up, you'll be once again all right, my son"

Logan came in the room, without telling where had been. He looked at Scott, growled at Mystique and went to see the moaning boy. Mystique looked at her son, then at Logan, then at Xavier, who was curing Scott, and at Logan again. She nodded to herself, and went to Scott's bed. She always hated the boy, but she understood that this proved: she needed to tell as much as she knows, or next time Kurt might hurt others, or even worse: himself.

She bent close to Logan's ear and whispered in it: "I've got some things to tell you"

"You sure have" Logan growled back whispering, and looked at Scott for another couple of seconds, then went out. Mystique looked at Kurt once more, and for the first time since being brought here, left the med ward.


	18. What's important?

**Some comments to my most regular reviewers:**

Fudje: Hey, I don't find Scott _that_ bad... He's not my fave, but I don't want to kill him... Well, maybe a little bit... But I won't. Sorry.

Darkness1: I'm trying, but it will be some time before Kurt will be in such good condition that his heart can be broken... But according to my script at this moment, it won't happen anyway. Happy! I love Kurt (sweetie) too much to break his heart totally. He'll survive till the end of this fic; his death is the only thing that will _not_ happen!

**§ § § § §**

Well, here's what happened to Kurt. But not all of it! You'll have to wait for that a little bit... there'll be some chapters before. :-)

Actually, this chap is about the X-men's opinion, feelings etc. Darkness1 has already guessed what happened (it wasn't to hard), so there'll be nothing really new.

Enjoy!

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 18: What's important?**

(by Kriszty)

The X-men were going home from school. They were all together, silent, on foot. This was quite rare, Scott was the one who took them home most of the times, but he never showed up in school. Jean connected the Professor telepathically, to ask if he was home, and sighed with relief when got the answer: yes, he was. But then she started worrying again: why was Scott home in the first place? Was there something wrong with Mystique? Or with Kurt perhaps? They all heard Kurt's screams, but were told to go to school. They thought that it would be OK; Scott would turn up and tell them everything. So they grew more and more afraid as time went on and Scott was still nowhere to be seen.

As they were reaching the Institute, Evan cried out:

"Man, this is, like, so unfair! Why doesn't The Man trusts us enough to tell the truth?"

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked

"Well, you know, this whole go to school, like good children, don't care if your mate's yelling's during his nightmares keeps continuing in your ears over and over again situation. How messed up is that!"

"You must be surprised, but..." Jean begun

"Oh, don't even continue! We know!" Rogue cried out sarcastically, and started talking in a yucky voice " the Professor has his reasons not to tell us, blahblah… Yeah, right, just like he had reasons not to tell Mystique being our _Principal_..."

"Rogue, let me finish!" Jean cut her off angrily "I wanted to say you must be surprised but I _agree_ with you! For one thing, he already made once a mistake by not telling us that Mystique and Darkholme are one and the same. On the other hand, it doesn't make any sense if we're at school or not, because who could concentrate anyway? Jeeze!"

"Wow, Jean, I'm really proud of you!" Kitty announced laughing, "You seem to be improving!"

Jean giggled, and said "Thanks. So, let's get the truth out of the Professor, now and together!"

"Yeah!" all of them yelled, gave high-fives to each other and walked in the mansion.

§ § § § §

"He can't talk right now, but I can"

Logan was in the living room, where the kids attacked him with their questions about where the Professor is.

"Yeah, why can't he talk to us? What's so important?" Evan asked loudly.

"I tell you what!" Logan shouted shouting as his temper rose. All the things that happened made him _very_ jumpy, and what was quite rare: touchy as well. "_Saving_ Scott's life, _that's_ what's so important!"

All of them fell silent in one second, with mouths open. Evan stared as if he was petrified; Kitty murmured "wha-wha-wha-wha-what?" and Jean fell back, luckily on a chair.

Rogue looked like she didn't want to believe what she heard, and as she saw on Logan's face that he was talking absolutely serious, she clenched her fists, and screamed "It was her, right? I told you it was a very bad idea! We shouldn't have brought her here! Where is she? I'm gonna kill her, fry her with some onions, and..."

"No" Logan cooled her down. "It was the Elf."

Now Kitty fell back as well, hitting the floor hard, but it didn't seem she cared. She simply stared at her feet and began murmuring "oh, nononononono..." Then she looked up at 'Mr.' Logan with a shake-me-I-must-be-dreaming expression. Evan looked the same, but a little more surprised, and Rogue's jaw was somewhere at her feet. She quickly closed her mouth and looked at Jean, who suddenly jumped up from her chair.

"Oh, no" Jean said, with dismay. "Wolverine, he didn't..."

"Yes, he did." Logan calmed down seeing one person who can think clearly (it looks like I don't think she's a typical blonde with red hair any more)

"What?" Rogue asked, "what did Kurt do?"

"Not Kurt, Rogue, Magneto." (Wow, nice sentence...)

"Magneto? What do you mean?"

"Kurt's been brainwashed" said a sound from the dark corner, and Mystique appeared.

"What do you mean, brainwashed?" Rogue asked looking at Mystique with eyes full of hate.

"His memories... all of his memories... have been replaced by others."

"Wha-wha-wha-wha... why?" Kitty asked as she folded her arms around her knees because they were shaking so badly.

"Magneto wanted him to join the Brotherhood. Kurt refused, so Magneto asked a mutant named Mastermind to brainwash him. His memories about his foster-parents... the X-men... The Brotherhood... Me... They all have been replaced by... by..." she sighed, but she couldn't continue. 'Luckily' Logan helped her out.

"By ones in which Magneto and Mystique are kind and caring I suppose... And from what I've heard up there, by memories in which _we, X-men_," he realized he began yelling as his temper started to rise again, so he stopped, took a deep breath and continued in a calmer voice, "hurt him. Especially Scott. Am I right?"

Mystique kept looking at the floor, and then she nodded.

"You..." Jean started, but was cut off by Rogue who just ran to Mystique and slapped her as hard as she could. Mystique looked at her surprised, but did nothing. Rogue lifted her hand to slap Mystique again but Logan stopped her.

"Let me go, Wolverine, I want to give her what she deserves!" Rogue started screaming and tried to touch Logan, who said quickly "It's not her fault, Rogue"

"What do you mean, _not her fault_?" Kitty screamed on her feet again, with voice so unlike her: furious, full of hate and disgust.

"Shut up, Half-pint, and don't even start, Red. The Professor wants you..." he pointed at Jean "... and you..." he pointed at Rogue "...in the medical ward _right now_. The others: leave. _Right now_."

All of them left the room quietly, throwing angry glimpses at Mystique. When everyone left, Wolverine looked at Mystique, who looked back at him. They looked in each other's eyes. Logan was looking for some answers, but gave up. He only could see guilt. After some minutes, Logan said "Let's go and see what's happening up there." She nodded, so Logan left, followed by the defeated shape-shifter, and they went to see what was going to happen.

§ § § § § § §

Sorry for it being a little short, but there'll be "autumn-brake" in two days, and these days we write ALL tests... Like Spanish, History, Math's, Grammar and P.E. And they'll make class-photos tomorrow.

But if I survive it, I promise to write a lot!

BUT ONLY IF YOU REVIEW!

Bye bye, wish me luck!

(I wrote these 3 days ago, but then, somewhy, I couldn't connect :-()


	19. Another new friendship

Hi! I survived every bloody test, some of them were good and 2 were really bad. Oh, well.

Sorry for not writing for such a long time, but I have been sleeping about 12 hours a day, and was too lazy to turn the computer on.

I've read through all of the previous chapters, and I have made some corrections. Most of them are little ones, but there are some big corrections in Chapter 14 and 18, so read through those... and I advise all of the other ones as well.

Darkness 1: wow! I never knew Mastermind was Jason Stryker! Cool, thanks! I never thought of asking him to change Kurt's memories back, and I will not. I've got another idea! See: this chapter

Fudje: sorry, he won't die. I've changed those sentences... and a lot of others as well. See: Author's note in previous chapter

Slade01: Sorry for not updating soon, but to cheer you up: two chapters one day! Hurray!

KaliAnn: Your sleepless nights are over! Just joking, I am very glad you like this so much. I feel warmness inside!

Raphaella: Sorry, am a bit slow here... what does Alternate Universe mean? I've already read it sometimes, but don't know what it means... Help me out here, please!

And if we're already at this point: what does angst mean? I must be a bit annoying, always asking silly questions, but what could I do?

And in this chapter for some people it may look like there's love between Mystique and Logan, but there isn't! At least I don't plan it yet, but you know, most of my plans change as I write chapters...

Here goes...

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 19: Another new friendship**

(by Kriszty)

"What can we do, Professor?"

Jean asked the question first thing she did when entered the room with Rogue. Then she saw Scott.

He was lying on a bed as far from Kurt's as possible. He looked horrible: there were blue and green marks on his whole body, especially his side. His glasses were in pieces; he wore his 'mission-shades'. He had a breathing mask on his face, and some wires were coming out from his arms. There was a short stitch on his side.

"Scott, no!" She cried out after a second of stare, but the Professor stopped her before she could run to his bed.

"Jean, please calm down, we have something much more important to do right now"

"But Professor..."

"Listen, Jean, Kurt needs your and Rogue's..." Rogue was staring on a spot between Kurt's and Scott's bed, but hearing her name, she immediately woke up. "...help, and if you don't do this now, the whole Institute, starting with Scott, will be in danger."

Jean was looking at Scott longing for another minute, then she turned to Xavier and said: "Of course, Professor. I... we are willing to do anything to help. Right?" She turned towards Rogue, who managed a weak smile at her.

"Yes, Professah, just tell us what to do" Rogue added, and put her hand on Jean's shoulder as a sign of telling the Professor that she agrees with Jean absolutely.

"Well, this is a long story, so I'd better..."

"Don't mind, Professor, we know the most. Logan told us," she added seeing Xavier's curious face.

This was the moment when Logan and Mystique entered the room. But before any of them could say another word, Kurt moaned up and started trashing around again.

"Ok, girls, here's the plan." Xavier started, speaking fast, while Mystique ran to Kurt's bed and grabbed his hand. "My theory is that maybe, I repeat, _maybe_ his old, _real _memories are reachable when he's asleep. If he could get rid of some of his _new_ memories, maybe we can succeed"

"This is my part, isn't it?" Rogue asked.

"Yes" Xavier said, "You touch him, and then Jean and I will try to reach him. I must admit..." Xavier stopped and looked at Mystique. But she was looking at Kurt, and seemed like not to be able to understand his words. However, because of the short silence, she looked at Xavier, who continued:

"...that I can't promise that we will succeed. There's chance, that his memories will stay like this _forever._"

Mystique looked back at her son again, and brushed her fingers to his face. Then she quickly stood up to give place for the others.

"How can I help?" She asked Xavier, who shook his head.

"I'm afraid there is no way you can help, Raven. The only thing you can do is be here for him, and if we don't succeed, and he wakes up, you can comfort him, so he won't attack anyone"

Mystique looked disappointed, but she nodded and stood shakily next to Logan, who looked at her with a face that showed he didn't know what to do. He felt sorry for this woman, this _mother_, who had to see how his son suffers. He didn't really know what could it be like, but he could imagine. So, to comfort her, he put his arms around her shoulder. (Check out author's note in the beginning!)

Mystique was looking at her son, and jumped a little bit when she felt a strong arm around her shoulder. She looked at the man standing next to him. He was looking straight at Kurt, and was blushing a little bit.

Logan felt really stupid. Comforting other people was not his style. It was usually what Jean or Kitty did. He looked at Mystique; she was looking at him, and she smiled a faint smile. He smiled back as well, a very small smile, feeling more stupid than ever; than both of them looked at Kurt and the people around him, just when Rogue touched the moaning mutant.

In the next second there were two screams filling the room; one was Kurt and the other one was Rogue. She backed away from Kurt's bed, her eyes closed, and she started trashing around in the room, her head in her hands. Both of them were shouting, asking for help, swearing and screaming.

Mystique moved as fast as she could; she ran to a desk, picked up a hypodermic needle, ran back to Rogue and gave her the injection. She calmed down, went quiet and fainted in Mystique's arms. She took her to a bed, and put her down on it, careful not to touch her skin.

Logan approached the bed as well, but after reaching it, he stopped in shock: he saw the same expression on Mystique's face which he saw each time she looked at Kurt. He could not explain it.

"How can she care for an X-men beside her son?" he thought, "She only looks like that at someone who she cares for. But why would she care for Rogue... I don't understand... She only looks like that at her _child_ or somethin'..." than the idea hit him. "If she really looks like that only at someone who's related to him, than this means _she is related to Rogue... as well..._ Or she's becoming mushy very fast" he added, smiling, but knowing Mystique, he doubted that.

While Logan was thinking about Mystique, and while Mystique was looking after Rogue, some things were happening in the other side of the room.


	20. Inside his nightmare

**Chapter 20: Inside his nightmare**

(by Kriszty)

As Rogue touched Kurt, Xavier went in his mind, trying to help him. This time Jean stayed out of it, she was like a secret weapon: if Xavier wouldn't be able to succeed, they would try together.

He saw images flashing down in front of his eyes. Most of them were unfamiliar to him; the only things he recognised were the voices: he knew most of them. But he was ready to swear: although he knew the voices, the things they were saying were lies, because the owners of these voices would have never said anything like that.

"Blue furred freak... Demon... Go back to hell where you belong, devil... Freakshow..." Xavier heard these and stuff like these, but who were saying these were his X-men: Scott, Jean, Kitty, Rogue, Evan... Sometimes he saw an image with the cruel words and evil laughter: in school, on the way to the Brotherhood house, X-men bullying him, torturing his soul. Sometimes even Kurt's feelings were sensible for the Professor: shame, anger, feeling lost.

Then the images stopped flashing and Xavier found himself in the middle of a forest. He saw Kurt as well; he was going on a small path, probably from school: his schoolbag was on his back. As much as Xavier could tell, he was going in the way of the Brotherhood's house. Suddenly Xavier heard a giggle behind him; it was Kitty. With a very bad feeling, he looked around; X-men behind each tree or bush.

He felt panic rose inside himself; he cried out to stop his students from attacking Kurt.

"STOP!!!"

The whole image, the trees, the path, the kids... It all faded away. There were images flashing down, again, but this time Kurt was there as well. But he wasn't angry, like when he was awake. He was terrified.

"What do you want from me? Get away from me, let me go, I've never done anything to you!" He shouted and backed away, with great fear on his face.

"Kurt... please... I just want to talk..."

"No! No! No! Noo! NOO!!!" he screamed, putting his hands on his ears, as though Xavier could crawl in his mind like a snake. (Uhm... being a little bit morbid here, don't you think?)

"Leave me alone, don't hurt me, no! No! No! Noo! Nooo! NOOOO!!!!" he fell on his knees, and the images began flashing down faster and faster. Xavier felt like his head was about to explode any minute, he wanted to scream up as well, but he couldn't.

Just as he was about to faint, he saw Jean, standing next to him, and shouting

"Professor, his heart won't take it, let's get out of here!"

And then everything ended.

He was in the med ward again. His heart raced like mad, he took breath very fast. He felt that his pulse had to be about 180. He opened his eyes – and saw the others staring at him with anxiety. He took some deep breaths to calm down, and looked at the others. At the sleeping Rogue, at Logan, who was standing next to Rogue's bed, at Jean, who was looking at Kurt with horror and - and at Mystique. She looked at the bald man with hope. She was already next to Kurt, caressing his face, but was looking at Xavier with hope in her eyes. But she had to be disappointed.

Xavier looked at Kurt, on his quietly sleeping figure. He stared at him for a second and bowed his head.

"I'm afraid I didn't succeed. I have to admit: I don't know what to do."

All the people around him looked shocked. Logan bowed his head as well, Jean started sobbing and set down next to Kurt's bed.

Mystique looked at him... no, this can't be happening...

She bent down to his ear and whispered in it: "don't worry, my son. I always keep my promises. You'll be out of this, I'll figure out how. I am not going to move from here until I figure out what to do"

She kissed his cheek.

As Xavier was watching them, the solution hit him.

§ § § § §

"Mystique, tell me..." Xavier began with very excited voice. Every conscious person in the room looked at him.

"...Does he trust you?"

Mystique's answer came a little bit late; she was surprised by the question.

"Yes. Remembering our first talk since being here... I have got the feeling he trusts me."

"Then maybe there's still hope." Everyone looked at him, Jean stood up surprised, Logan went closer and Mystique let go Kurt's hand.

"Listen, he didn't listen to me because he was too afraid to do so. We need someone who he doesn't fear. But since Mystique's not a telepath, she can't talk to him. But there's someone in this room, who _can be_ Mystique and _can be_ a telepath." He looked around, but noone seemed to understand him, so he announced proudly:

"Wake up Rogue!"

§ § § § §

Oh, my, it looks like this lot of sleep doesn't do too good: I just cannot write more than this! Am really trying, but there's hardly any idea in my head.

Well, I must admit, it took some time to figure out how could Mystique get in Kurt's mind. First I thought Xavier takes her with him, than that he morphs into Mystique during the dream (in nightmares anything can happen)... But the first one was too easy, and Mystique would have not had any part in the second solution. And then, like a flash, it hit me: Rogue is the answer to all of my problems!!! And this way the moment of her realising her relation to Mystique will come closer...


	21. About trust

Raphaella: Thanks for telling these stuff! I am much more clever now! :-)

Kaliann: Well, Mystique's memories will get into Rogue's body, so she will be able to talk to Kurt the way Mystique would. She will know exactly what Mystique feels, and she will be able to talk to Kurt as though she was _really_ Mystique. Hump... a bit complicated, isn't it? I mean the way I express myself.

Darkness1: Well, yes, Rogue's gonna have some mayor part. I don't really like her, I mean she _could_ help herself if she really would want to, but she's a good character.

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 21: About trust**

(by Kriszty)

Waking up Rogue wasn't as easy as it looked like; it took some hours. Xavier was sitting next to her bed, inside her dreams, and was calming her. Once he stopped for some seconds, just to tell the others that she was going to be Ok, she just needed some rest to be able to take control over the dreams, and realize which are her memories and which are Kurt's.

At least, the ones that have been planted in his mind.

After about an hour after Xavier's journey in Kurt's mind, the blue boy woke up.

Kurt looked around the room with confused and tired eyes. He didn't remember anything that happened before... in his whole life. He could remember nothing.

He looked around, and saw people. Someone was standing over a funny looking boy, lying in a bed, wearing sunglasses. Kurt thought that he could use one of those as well... he hardly saw anything because of the sun. The man he saw standing over him was short and looked like very strong. He shook his head, and suddenly turned toward Kurt... And smiled.

Despite not remembering anything, he had the feeling that a smile on this man's face was very rare, if visible at all.

Kurt turned his head a little bit, and saw another lying child; a girl, but she looked even funnier than the sun-glassed boy. She had two white stripes in her otherwise red hair; she had white body, and as Kurt saw, was sleeping. There were 3 people around her; two females and a male. The younger girl was tall, she had red hair as well, and she was whispering to the bald man next to her. The bald man nodded; he was sitting in a wheelchair, and was almost touching the white-skinned girl.

There was one, last person next to that girl's bed: a woman. She was definitely the most funny; she had red hair as well, but she had blue skin, and was wearing a white dress. All of the others were wearing normal, everyday clothes, but she had... a kind of uniform.

That woman made Kurt remember something... Yes it was here, in this strange room... She was talking to him... Making excuses... Asking for forgiveness...

But when Kurt tried to figure out what happened exactly, he felt so very exhausted that he didn't want to think about that woman at all... All he wanted was to fall asleep... asleep... And so he did.

He woke up again about 5 minutes later. There was a little change this time; noone was standing over the sick boy; and there was only the girl and the man next to the girl's bed. But there were three people standing next to his bed: the short man, the blue woman and a little girl. Kurt looked at her for a couple of seconds not to forget what she looked like; she was not little at all: she was about at his age, and was wearing something pink and blue and her hair was in a ponytail.

She suddenly blushed, and whispered so only the people around them could hear:

"Welcome back, Kurt..." "Kurt? Who's Kurt... Wait... Was she talking to me?"

"It's good to see you awake, elf" the short man growled. He was not smiling this time, but he saw real happiness in his eyes.

Elf... yes, he remembered this... And if he tried, he could remember their names as well... The man was called Logan. The lying girl was Rogue, the bald man Xavier, or Professor... The girl talking to him, calling him Kurt was... Kitty... and the blue skinned woman... her name was... was...

"Mystique?"

The woman named Mystique smiled, and knelled next to his bed.

"Hello, Kurt, it's good to see you're okay"

And the memories came back. He suddenly remembered these people attacking her... his mother... and himself defending her... And how she stopped him... But these were all bad people... They hurt them both, they wanted to see them hurt, sick, dying...

Kurt tried to sit up, to tell his mother to escape, leave him, run before these people around catch him... He was obviously in their hands already, but she could live... But she pushed him back.

"Don't worry, dear, just relax. They are not going to hurt anyone, they will help. I am staying here"

"But..." Kurt tried, but Mystique didn't let him finish.

"Look, I will never leave you, understood? Not even if my life depends on it. And while I am around, you don't ever have to be afraid. As long as we are together, nothing can happen to any of us, especially you.

Kurt lay, but he was still alarmed. He wasn't convinced by her words. He wasn't afraid of getting hurt or anything, he was just afraid that if these people around hurt her it will be all his fault.

Mystique saw these in his eyes, and smiled.

"Don't worry, rest. Like I said: nothing will happen to any of us if we are together. Trust me"

The magic words... Kurt realized that he trusted her, and believed in what she had said. So he lay back, smiled and closed his eyes.

He went to sleep again, with that smile on his face. The smile that showed that he totally trusted whatever his mother told him.


	22. Others' powers

Sorry for the late update, but this chapter is very long (the longest so far) and I had very big difficulties expressing myself. So, if you don't understand anything, just ask in the review.

**And please, _review!_** **Am really thankful 4 everyone who did so far, but I can't help loving your _wonderful_ reviews...**

PS.: If you want me to update soon, please send me your review! You see, there are some people who review always, but if there are very few, I will be sad and will not update soon...

§ § § § § § §

**Chapter 22: Others' powers**

Rogue was dreaming, but she was aware of this state. The Professor told her and she realized that this was just a dream. Well, not any kind of dream... it was another mutant's nightmare. His memories. His awful ones. Which were lies.

The Professor explained her that first she had to be able to decide which memories are hers and which are Kurt's. This procedure took a long time. First she had to recognize the dream, and if she knew it, and then concentrate on the fact that it's not true, so she remembered it even when she woke up.

After finishing, the Professor left her to sleep another couple of minutes, and then Rogue woke up.

She lay in the bed, and tried to decide if she knew which memories were hers and which weren't. When she finished and figured out that she could separate the familiar from the less familiar, she stood up.

Everyone in the room turned towards her with surprised eyes. None of them, except for Xavier and Jean expected her to get up so early. After the first moments of surprise, they looked at her with hope and fate. It looked like everyone in the room knew what was going to happen, except for her.

"Professah," she turned towards the man, "what have I got to do?"

"Rogue, you see, we realized that the only one she trusts now... at this state is Mystique. So, this means I can't help her. So, she has to get in his mind, but not being a telepath, she obviously cannot do that. So, instead, we need you to touch me, so you can become a telepath, and you also have to touch her, so you can morph into her in Kurt's mind and talk to him. If she concentrates on her memories as well, you will know what happened exactly, what Kurt thinks happened. But I think you know most of that already" he added quietly.

Rogue nodded, and stepped forward Mystique. She had the feeling that Xavier's mind will be very hard to overcome, so she would suck away Mystique's powers first.

Mystique looked at Rogue. Before touching the woman, Rogue said what the Professor didn't want to: "Listen, could you concentrate on your _feelings_? What I need right now is to know the _real_ you he trusts, otherwise he might realize it's not really you and I think this is our only chance"

Mystique nodded, although she was worried. She suffered the damage of not telling Kurt who her mother is, and that he found out in such circumstances. She didn't want the same happen to Rogue... She wanted to _tell_ her, not giving her the memories to realize the awful truth herself. Like Kurt did.

As Rogue got off her gloves and raised her fingers, Mystique did the same and she tried to concentrate on one thing: how she loved Kurt. How she cared for him, how much she wanted to see him well, happy. The old, _real_ Kurt.

She wanted to give all her maternal feelings to Rogue. (But only towards Kurt)

When their fingers touched, Rogue wanted to let go immediately, so she didn't do too much damage. But as she backed away, Mystique did something unexpected: she grabbed Rogue's hand. Not roughly, more like gentle. They looked in each other's eyes; Mystique kept saying in her mind: "I love you, Kurt, I love you, I love you" Rogue nodded, and let the blue mutant to hold her hand for a second; she felt her feelings, and understood why she was doing it. She really, very much wanted Kurt to wake up and be his old self again.

As Mystique was already collapsing, Rogue let her go and grabbed her with her other hand. But before they would both land on the floor, Logan was there from nowhere, grabbed Mystique, took her to Rogue's bed and put her down.

Rogue sat down on the floor, so she didn't waste energy on standing. She had to learn to bare all the memories, and to control fully the power to metamorph. She was shaping from person to person (like Mystique did in X-men 2 when J Stryker began to destroy the mutants), but refused Jean's help.

"Gonna be all right, just need a minute to put everything in order in my head."

She sat there for some moments, but Jean couldn't help noticing that the person she morphed most was Kurt and her real, gothic form... but it looked like as though she was some years younger…

All kind of memories were racing in Rogue's head, but she locked away everything except for the past few weeks... about since Juggernaut's visit to the Institute. That was the first time Kurt saw Mystique in her real form.

Rogue suddenly stood up. She locked away most of the (familiar) memories, and was able to tell what exactly Mystique was feeling and thinking. She also knew Kurt's feelings... it was like sharing both mutants' life.

While thoughts like that were racing in her mind, Rogue walked towards Xavier with absolutely no expression on her face. He looked at her as thought he wanted to read from her eyes (besides her brain, as usually :-P). They stared at each other like that for some seconds, Rogue still not showing sign of even being awake- except for the fact that she was standing and that her eyes were open- yet expressionless. Xavier hesitantly raised his hand. Rogue stared at it like she didn't know what to do.

"Rogue?"

"Hmm?"

"I understand you feel you need time, but Kurt needs your help now. I advise you that as you touch me, you use my powers immediately. I think you will collapse under it very soon; and we need you to do a proper job."

Rogue stared at Xavier's hand, as though she wanted it to answer her unasked question. Then she shook her head, as though she wanted to shake something out of her hair or eyes; she nodded, and suddenly grabbed Xavier's hand.

She didn't want to do much damage either, but she wanted to be sure in what she was doing. She held on to Xavier's hand a little bit more than the time when she tried to let go of Mystique. When she let go, she didn't care what was happening to the Professor; she had other things to worry about.

She was on a white, totally white and shiny place, and she was hearing voices from every corner.

"C'mon, Rogue... you can do it!"

"Let's go, Chuck..."

"Haha, Dunkan, you got it this time!"

"Nono, get away from me... stop it..."

"Like, Rogue, keep on... you can do it, girl... I'm so, like, worried, she doesn't look good..."

She begun reading everyone's mind in the room, and she couldn't stop. Her brain felt like burning, she wanted to scream, to shut out everything, every voice...

"Oh man, this pizza is awful..."

"Evan, you're not concentrating..."

"Something really bad is happening, I can feel it..."

Rogue was reading everybody's thoughts now... she was about to collapse... to faint... But she mustn't, Kurt needs her... But she can't... it's really too much...

Rogue fell on her knees. She was breathing fast, her pulse was racing. The white place was slowly turning into something darker.

Kitty and Logan, who were awake, just stared at her, with fear on their face, fear of not being able to help. But Jean was thinking fast and doing what she had to.

In front of Rogue's mental eyes Jean appeared.

"Rogue, Rogue... Listen to my voice..."

"Jean? Jean, please, help me..."

"Listen Rogue, concentrate on my voice. Listen to nothing but my voice..."

Rogue was in much pain, so she decided to do exactly what Jean told her to. Rogue was surprised to see that the voices became quieter and quieter... Till she could hear nothing but Jean's voice. She opened her mental eyes and could only see walls around her and Jean. It was like they were locked in a box.

"Jean, what happened?" Rogue asked

"I've put up mental walls against everything else..." Jean said through her teeth. "I try to keep it until you finish with Kurt, but please, hurry..."

Rogue nodded, stood up, and looked around. Through the walls she could see a lot of images... Duncan being humiliated in front of whole Bayville (Scott's having funny dreams)... An unfamiliar girl acting very nicely... Someone looking at Evan angrily... And she could also see some horrible things as well... and as she was concentrating on a familiar one, she heard a male scream.

She went towards the image, and saw that the box was following her, but Jean was out of it already. She raised her hand and pointed at the wall, and a small hole appeared on it. She kept pointing at it and concentrated, and the hole became bigger and bigger until she could step through it easily. Which she did.

She was in Kurt's nightmare, and she was defended from everything else. But she didn't know till when.

And she could never know what could be waiting her in this world of horror.


	23. Who are you?

**Hii, people! Guess what! I'M BACK!**

**I know some ppl would be more happy if I continued "Eyes like open doors", but I've decided to make a new chapter to this instead. I've read through all the chapters, and corrected the major mistakes (most of the times I had 2 correct 'threw' to 'through', I always wrote the wrong word... :-P)**

**I feel kinda ashamed for not updating for such a long time (what's it been? a year? I think more...), but recently I've read lots and lots of Dragonball Z fics, and they made me remember this (you know, there's the father-son relationship between Gohan and Goku... It's kinda like this. Well, actually, they're totally different, but still… :-P).**

**I'll really try and write the best chapter yet (if I don't succeed.. Well, at least it's the longet so far. It beats the prev chapter with 100 words...). Wish me luck. And in the end, pls review, so I know if I managed to accomplish this mission of mine.

* * *

**

**Chapter 23: Who are you?**

(by MikoKriszty)

Rogue found herself in the middle of a huge, yelling mob. She looked around, and tried to search for memories about the place, but entering Kurt's dreams were very tiring, and she realized that if she had wasted more time here, she would have probably fainted before she could do anything. So, with hope that she wouldn't run out of time, she hurried towards the center of the mob so she would get some answers.

She kept her mind on her mission, but she still couldn't miss the words all those people shouted, words she didn't understand. But she could figure out it was in German all right.

She struggled and struggled closer to the centre, and as she became very close to her destination, she realized that a lot of the people had torches in their hands, and suddenly all the torches went flying. She watched the path of one of them frightened, and when she saw where it fell, her legs stopped what they were doing, and her mouth fell open with shock and horror. She felt sick of the sight.

She could only manage a barely audible whisper. "Kurt…"

There he was. The loving Elf who always goofed around. The one who was trying to make everyone smile, and always put his friends in front of himself. **(does that have any sense at all?)** Probably the nicest person in the whole wide world.

There he was. Being burnt on the stake.

He looked horrible. He had bruises all over his body, and there was blood on his hands, probably from the wires he was tied with. His shirt was wrapped, leaving his torso visible, and he had hardly any clothes on. His eyes were closed, and tears were rolling down his face. He was crying, and crying hard. Then he must have detected the smoke and the heat, because his eyes popped open, and as he stared at the orange-red flames getting closer and closer to him, he screamed. Then again, and again. He was begging them to let him go… But nobody came to help him.

Rogue couldn't watch it anymore. She also had tears rolling down her face, and as she shut her eyes, she shook her head as though it could make it all disappear. But she still heard the mob, which was now cheering… All she could do was to scream up with agony in her voice.

"Kurt, NOOOOOOO!"

The whole scene suddenly disappeared. The two teenagers were left in nothing but darkness, with Rogue's scream echoing. Rogue opened her eyes, and looked around, then spotted Kurt and quickly morphed into Mystique's form.

Kurt was kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily. He was staring at his hands. _A nightmare… It was just the nightmare again… And it's over… Over… But… But how?_

He gave a start and quickly looked up as a hand gently touched his shoulder. There was a blue woman, somewhat familiar, with eyes full of concern. _That woman… Those eyes… I know them… I remember them…_

"M… Mother?"

Rogue smiled kindly, and hugged him lightly. She was totally under the control of Mystique's feelings; she almost forgot that her name was actually Rogue and that she wasn't a shape-shifter in the first place.

"Yes, Kurt. Calm down, dear"

Then, the most unexpected thing happened: Kurt hugged her back, with such force as though his aim was to make her fall back on her butt. He was once again crying heavily, sobbing "Mother, it was so awful, that nightmare, I was so afraid…"

This made Rogue remember who she was and why she was there again. She needed to wake up Kurt's real memories fast, before Jean lost control and she would be distracted by other things. Or, worse, she herself would faint from energy-loss.

Still, she held Kurt for a couple of seconds. She felt responsible and had the need to comfort him. _You were always so kind to me, ever since I moved to the Xavier-institute… No, even before that, you would joke with me and all even though I was supposed to be your enemy… You never cared who I was, you simply have this need to be kind to every living being… Well, maybe except Toad… :-P _

Seeing Kurt like this, totally broken and crying… This was one of the most shocking experiences of her life. _Why him?_ she kept asking herself. _Why? He is the kindest of us, he has the biggest heart… He is the one always there to comfort someone… Why did faith make you suffer this much? _She remembered the time when they first met: she was scared to death, and he was trying to comfort her. It was a shame Kitty managed to ruin everything he achieved. _You didn't even know me, and still you were trying to comfort me. Not because of the orders of the Proffessah, no… _She remembered his feelings from when she was teleporting in the graveyard. She ignored them then, but thought a lot about them later on. _You wanted to be there for me, you wanted to help me, to comfort me in my almost mad state, you wanted to make me safe… So I wouldn't have to suffer like you had…_

After a second, she whispered quietly to Kurt "I love you…"

Kurt let go of her, wiped his tears away, and said sheepishly "Me too, Mom… Sorry for that…"

Rogue focused back on her mission again. _Now it's my time to comfort you…_

"Listen Kurt, I want you to do something." Kurt had a questioning expression on his face "I need you to concentrate, and to concentrate very hard. On the… On the memories of the X-men."

Kurt's smile vanished in an instant "What's with the X-men? Did they hurt you? Because if they did, I swear I'll hunt every single one of them down and…"

"Kurt…" Rogue whispered barely audible. She felt some tears coming. "Please stop."

He looked at her stupefied.

"Kurt, listen, I know how you feel about them, but please listen to me, because this is very important!" Kurt looked in her eyes curiously, then nodded "Fine. Anything for you."

"Thank you. Kurt, I need you to think of one time… Of a time when they were terrorizing you. Any memory will do, if I'm in it as well. Can you remember any?"

Kurt smiled a sarcastic smile. "Are you kidding? They never left a chance to go to torture me, they would always 'accidentally' make me fall in the cafeteria so my shirt would be ruined by my lunch… Or they would go after me after school to bully me some more… Uhh, sure, you are in neither of them… Let me see… How about the time they were trying to get my holo-watch off and you interfered?" **(sorry, ran out of ideas, I have to use this one, even if it was already mentioned earlier)**

Rogue nodded quickly, a little bit hysterically actually. She felt she didn't have much power left. Her breathing became faster and she was sweating badly. Plus she knew Jean could fail any second now. Kurt looked concerned.

"Kurt, that's a good one. Now please, concentrate on it. Tell me, can you remember any small details. Like, what characters were wearing, what the weather was like, what you were doing before in the break and things like that."

Kurt fell deeply in thoughts. Rogue could see the frustration on his face as he looked up. "It's surprising, Mom. I remember none of the details, though it happened not too long ago…"

"EXACTLY" Rogue felt she had seconds left before she fainted. She pushed on – this was their last chance. "Kurt, they aren't real. It's all a lie. The X-men are not your enemies, Magneto is."

Kurt's eyes widened. "W… What?" He looked deeply in Rogue's eyes. His facial expression changed faster than what Rouge could see. Than, with a voice totally different from before, cold and cruel, he asked her.

"Who are you?"

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**Well, yepp, I kept my good habit of leaving chapters with cliffhangers. But this cliffhanger… I'm just cruel, I know. Pls, don't kill me, guys! ducks from the way of a flying shoe Hey! ducks from a can, and starts running away as angry readers chase PPL! You kill me now, and you'll never know the end of the story! Mob stops confused Whoo, that was a close one…**

**I really tried to make this chapter longer, I wrote it on Sunday, checked it on Monday and re-checked it on Tuesday (2day). I don't think there's anything else I could write in it to make it longer, but I really want to end it there, with a cliffhanger THAT awful :-D.**

**Anyway, pls review, it would B lovely if I got enough reviews so I'd had 2 reviews per chapter… It's no big thing to ask for, right? puppy-dog eyes**

**Besides, if you ppl don't review, I won't update, deal? Not? Well, sorry, I'm the writer, you're out of luck I guess… :-DD**

**Bye!**

**MikoKriszty (CHANGED PENNAME!)**


	24. Tenderness

**Holy hell. I'm the laziest thing on Earth. This update was due THREE AND A QUARTER YEARS AGO.**

**Forgive me. I have reread the whole thing, realized how it's full of plot-holes and overall a pretty sucky fic with bad grammar and vocab… However, you people are just irresistible with your reviews. Also I feel really ashamed to abandon a fic like this; so I'm just gonna come up with an ending for this and later type up an epilogue. Sometime. Yeah.**

**At least this is the longest chapter yet. Hooray. (Although I feel bad for writing not much at all. In my upcoming Naruto fic, there's a chapter that's four times as long as this one, including the Author's rants. I suck XD)**

**And maybe sometime in**** the XXXII century I'll actually forget my damn laziness and reedit this a bit. You don't have to tell me, I know it needs a lot of it.**

**This chapter is inspired… By the thousands of Naruto fanfictions I have read. Not to mention all the anime I have watched. So, prepare for typical Japanese anime attitude: lots of cheesiness, and friendship wins over all evil!! LOL.**

**Oh, yes, before I forget. I haven't watched X-men Evolution for… Well, let's say two years. I have lost the DVDs on which I had the episodes, it has been translated into Hungarian here and is not as enjoyable as the original one, AND I have been watching anime, reading anime fanfics and studying 24/7. But only when I was not busy being a lazy bastard. XD So, there might be some OoCness.**

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**Chapter 24: ****Tenderness**

(by MikoKriszty)

(dedicated to my Grandfather who died three day ago. R.I.P., Дедушка Вова… )-': )

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Rogue felt her hands trembling. How… How could Kurt see through this? Were his fake memories so well thought through that he could tell the difference? Was Magneto _that_ sneaky?

That _bastard_…

Rogue's thoughts were interrupted by a hand taking hold of her wrist, and she felt pain; Kurt twisted her arm and was holding her hostage, having an iron grip on both her wrists behind her back.

"I have no idea where we are or who you are, and frankly, I don't care. All I know is you being here means Mother being hurt. Tell me what you have done to her. _Now_"

Feeling a fuzzy tail wrap around her neck, Rogue was grateful for all the training they have had in the Institute. Having a panic attack now would not be to her advantage.

Being unable to move, she could do nothing but look back at the blue mutant with pleading eyes.

"Kurt, please, you have to hear me out-"

Just as she was about to try and reason with the boy again, Rogue's luck ran out.

She had just felt Jean's protective shield disappearing.

"_Well, this is most definitely not my day…__"_

All the images came rushing back. Kurt immediately let go of Rogue's wrists, and grasped his own head in his hands. His eyes betrayed utter panic.

"No… What is this again… This is also your fault, isn't it…? Why do you people keep doing this to me… Everyone keeps hurting me, just like they always have…"

As the images were flashing all around them, speeding up until they were nothing more than spots of color, too quickly changing to be definable as a whole. Rogue had to use up all her mental power just to stay put and not get separated from Kurt. She felt like she was in the middle of a huge hurricane… A hurricane by which Kurt seemed to be completely unaffected.

Just as her energies were about to run out, she noticed the wind becoming gentler; she rammed her eyes shut and focused all her energy to hold out until it died down. When she glanced around again, she realized that the images have stopped at a particular one.

The scenery was quite astonishing; there were mountains all over the horizon, she was standing in the middle of a field, on beautifully green grass. She could see farm animals in the distance, and could feel their not too pleasant odor, too. Not too far away was a neat little house, complete with a balcony, a terrace and a backyard with some vegetables and cages, probably for rabbits or chicken. She could hear a river flowing somewhere closeby.

That's when she recognized the place. It was another memory from her nightmares; the place where Kurt was found after the dreadful accident.

"_So… This must be where he spent his childhood…_" She mused. She lifted a hand to brush the bangs out of her eyes and realized something else: she shifted back to her original form. It seemed while focusing all her energies on staying inside Kurt's subconscious, she forgot to focus on her shape-shifting powers. She decided not to waste any energy on changing; she might run out of it completely, not to mention that Kurt already knew she was not Mystique.

Before she could have decided on any course of action, a woman in her forties came out of the house, holding some laundry. Rogue frowned as she noticed something else in this too-idle scenery: some kids, hiding behind some bushes, with what appeared to be rotten eggs and tomatoes in their hands.

Not waiting for the kids to commit what prank they were obviously planning, Rogue decided to interfere.

"Hey, you punks, what the hell do you think you're doing!"

The preteen and younger kids jumped in surprise, and looked at her horrified. The woman dropped her laundry; it seemed she did not notice the children, and thought Rogue had shouted at her. She kept staring at her and then began making cross-signs over her breasts with her hands, while muttering something in German.

Rogue felt like sweatdropping. She knew gothic must have not been a common style here, but c'mon! She's no spawn of the devil, no matter what that – apparently slightly off in the head – woman seemed to think.

She saw movement from the corner of her eye. Turning, she made an even more shocking discovery: a four-year-old Kurt must have been making his way out of the nearby forest, but at the sight of the Goth he also seemed to freeze up.

_Boy, he __is soooo cute with those wide eyes of his!_

Her second of out-of-characterness ended as the woman marched up towards Kurt, and slapped him hard in the face. Rogue gaped as the crazy female screamed him in German, not understanding anything except the words "Gott", "Dämon" and "Satan". **(God, Demon and Satan)**

Another slap, to the small boy's other cheek this time, was all that Rogue needed.

"Stop it, you bitch!"

The woman stared at her, her right hand flying through another and another cross in front of her chest as Rogue approached them, fury practically flowing off of her in waves. When she was a mere 5 metres away, the woman let go of the tiny boy and ran back into her house.

She watched the crazy female leave, and saw that the troublemakers were out of her sight, too. She turned back to the trembling figure in front of her and was saddened the little boy inching away from her.

Not even needing the memories of the feelings Mystique gave her, Rogue smiled warmly and squatted down.

"Hello"

The boy stopped moving away, but didn't stop trembling. Rogue figured that despite her appearance, she must have been the only person to be nice to him, so he must be confused.

Kurt mumbled something, but Rogue couldn't understand anything. She tried to explain this by shaking her head and pointing at her ear.

Kurt seemed to forget all fear, and his curiosity was peaked by her actions and kindness. He approached her and took a peek inside her ear. Not seeing anything, he spoke some more German that Rogue could not understand. She giggled; the little boy was really too cute for his own good! How could that ignorant witch act like that…

And just like that she remembered why she was there at all. These memories were false ones; Kurt had lived happily with his step-parents, who were really kind to him considering him being a mutant and all… Well, as happily as a blue fuzzy elf could, anyway. What she heard from Kurt, these people did all they could to make his life more bearable; he had once told Rogue how grateful he was towards them, and how he felt he could never repay their kindness.

This did not stop her from feeling pity towards this other, sadder Kurt. All throughout his short life, it seemed no one showed him any kindness, and the hell from which everyone assumed he escaped from was actually here, in this beautiful place, on Earth.

Rogue felt so sad for the little boy. She knew exactly what was it like, not knowing human contact. She knew she had to save her friend from these memories, and help him return to the real, more happy ones.

She interrupted the little boy in his ranting and hugged him.

Kurt seemed to freeze up, and his trembling returned tenfold. He tried to wriggle his way out of grasp, but she just held him more, pouring all her gentleness in her actions. His attempts to break away grew weaker, and then disappeared; Rogue then sat back on her butt, and brought the boy in her lap. She cradled him, well, as much as she could cradle a four-year-old, and without a word, she simply held him, comforted him, caressed him in an attempt to make the boy feel warm, wanted, loved.

Feelings that she hoped would awaken the old Kurt, for he was the only one who could recognize them.

A few tears of happiness escaped Kurt's eyes; being hugged with so much affection was the happiest moment he could ever remember having. He desperately held to this person, this warmth, this safety… He felt himself drift towards sleep, but he did not resist; falling asleep at that moment felt like making it last forever.

One second before everything collapsed around her, the gothic girl heard a male voice that filled her heart with joy and reassurance: everything would be alright afterwards.

"_Rogue…_"

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**(Yeah… If this chapter doesn't reek from "I have read too much tiny-Naruto-being-bullied fics" then I don't know what does. LOL)**

**I didn't want to end it here, but it's just too perfect. Since I suspect me not uploading the epilogue for some time XD, ****here are some hints: it will take place some weeks after this chapter, with everyone living happily ever after. Hooray.**

**I'm gonna label this as complete, although I WILL write one more chapter for this. It's gonna have 25 chapters, like my math-crazed side demands. LOL**

**Anyway, as always, review!**


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